Machine for attaching tires to wheels.



v H. STOUP. MACHINE FOR ATTAGHING TIRES T0 WHEELS.

I. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 14,1901. Patented Aug.

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Patenteg Aug. 10,1909.

'2 SHEET 2.

MACHINE FOR ATTAG NG TIRES T0 HENRY Ll sToUr, orvrslLAn'ri, MICHIGAN.

MACHINE FOR 'ATTACHING TIRES TO WHEELS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 10, 1909.

Application filed September 14, 1907. Serial No. 392,944.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, HENRY L. S'roUP, a

citizen ofthe UnitedStates of America, re-

siding at Ypsilanti," in the county of Washtenew and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ma chines for Attaching Tires to Wheels, of which the followingis a specificatioinreference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

The invention.'relates to machines for attaching rubber tires to vehicle wheels, being more particularly designed for use in theattachment of tires to large sized Wheels, but ca able of employment for other purposes. ehicle tires of the kind for which my machine is designed to be employed are provided with one or more securing wires or hands embedded in the rubber and the tire is held to the wheel rim or felly by properly tensioning and securing together the ends of these wires. The ends of the securing wires are attached to each other in various ways, but for large sized wheels it is usual to bevel Off the overlapping portions of these wires and secure them together after tensioningby brazing so as to produce a continuous ring of substantially equal-cross section. During the operation of the beveling and brazing, the ends of the rubber tire must beheld apart, and after the completion of the ata the beveling and i tension.

tachment of the metal wires these spaced ends of the rubber are forced together.

It is one of the objects of the present in-1 vention to increase the working capacity of the machineby roviding means whereby hrazing operations may be performed after the removal of the wheel from the machine, which latter is first eme ployed for placing the wires under proper consists in certain novel featuresofconstruc tion as hereinafter set forth. V i j In the drawings-Figure 1 is a front elevation of the machine illustrating theoperation of tensioning the wires of a tire ,Fig. 2 is a' section on line 2+2, of Fig. 1, looking to the left showing the means for adjustably supporting the wheel, the remaining parts being omitted; .Fig. 3 is a sectional viewon :line

3-3, of Fig. 6, showing the device in operative relation to the wheel; Fig. 4 is a cross section on line 4-4., of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is an enlarged section on line 55, of Fig. 7 Fig. 6 is a perspective view of'the shield; Fig. 7 is a perspective view of one of the end brackets and the intermediate bracket showing the relation of the guide rod to the shaft.

A, A, is asuitable framework rovided with a vertically adjustable spind e B for supporting the hub of the wheel, B and B are guide rods for the spindle B, and C C are brackets secured to the upper portion of the frame inwhich is j ournaled a rotary shaft D, having right and leftthreaded portions upon op osite sides of'the center thereof.

7 8 is an intermediate bracket having a laterally-extending arm a to which are secured the guide rods B B E is a hand-wheel for rotating the shaft, and F F are members'engaging the oppositely threaded portions of the shaft and moved by therotation thereof toward or from each other.

. G is a guide rod for the members F F adj acent to and parallelwith the shaft D and secured to the'brackets C, C. I

Eachof the members F F is provided with a wire-engaging clamp and preferably one capable of engaging a plurality of wires.

Asshown, each of these clam s comprises a pair of gripping jaws, H and and a clamping bolt J for drawing them together. These jaws are arranged transversely in relation'to the shaft D and members F F thereon, and are adapted to'engage with wires on each side of the clamping bolt. One of the clamps is swiveled to e ualize the tension upon the two wires, whi e the other clamp is held from rotation, and to provide for the swiveled connection a shoulder 12 is formed on the bolt J. W'here the machine is used for a tire secured to the rim by a single wire, the swiveled clamp may be locked from rotation by suitable means, such as pins K, inserted throu h registering a ertures K in the jaws H and% and member In the operation of tensioning the Wire or wires, to secure the tire to the wheel felly, the ends of the rubber must be held apart and this has been accomplished with certain structions, it has been necessary to secure the ends of the tensioned Wires together before disengagement from the .machine, as the operation of filing and brazing the wires is one taking considerable time for itsperformance, the capacity of the machine is necessarily limited-thereby. With the present construction, the Wires are held apart by a member detachablefromthe-machine, and this same member is employed for temporarily clamping the wires while under: tension, so :that the whole =wheel :may be removed fromzthe machine for the fitting-and brazing operation. This permits of using the machine for :t-ensi'oning the securing wires of the tires, while the operation on the firstis being completed.

As shown, L is-a memberfor engaging the wheel felly, which is provided with sepa- "'i rated abutments Mand M for Jtheopposite en ds of the rubb'er tire, sufiicient space :being left between these abutments for attaching the ends of the securing wires toeach other. Each of these abutments M is preferably T grooved .on its under side for engagement with the securing-wire of thetire, and preferablysprovided with a central :groove 0 and a pair of grooves d and e a1pon OPPOSiEG' sides thereof. The groove c'is used wherethere isbut asinglesecuring .wireinthe tire, and

the.spaeedgroovesd and e where there are double WlI6S. Adjacenttoeach of the abutmentsM Mlis;avire-clampN. This preferably comprises the j aw members f andg and an intervening ;me1nber 7L. Pins i pass i O passing through threaded apertures in the member L. Thus by tightening the set screws, the WiIB or wires maybe clamped between the :jaw member or members and the vmember Jr, as shown in Fig. 4. The member XL is preferablyprovided with down wairdly-eXt-ending sides P, which embrace the Wheel felly N=and protect .it from injury during the operation of fitting and brazing together the ends of the wires.

WVith the construction .as described in operation, the ;frame;and the bracket 0 are preferably secured to the wall of the building and-the wheel to betired is first-placed upon thespindlexB,whichlatter is adjusted to the properheight on the rods B B to bring the uppertportion of-the wheel'rim in proper re lation-to the members F F. The tire, with its-securing wires, is then 100 ed about the wheel felly andthe member: is laced between theend-s-of the rubber, whlle the securing Wires passthrough the grooves c, or (Z and e, and cross each other in the space between the abutments M and M. The ends of the cross wires are then secured to the clamps between the jaws H and I, which are pressed together by the bolt H. The operator then turns the hand-wheel E to separate the members F and F from each other, thereby drawing outthe slack in the tire,

which in the first place hangs beneath the lower portion ofthe wheel or felly, and continuing the operation until the tire is drawn closely to the folly and the wires placed under proper tension. During the operation, therubber upon the-wires will be forced back and compressed by the spaced abutments M and M. The securing wires in. passing across the space between the abutments also pass into engagement with the clamps N which engage therewith at a point immediately adjacent to the abutment. After crossing each other, the wires pass between the upper ends of the opposite clamp N at the oint where the jaws are held permanent y spaced from each other. When the wires are placed under proper tension, the clamps N are tightened by the set scrcwsO, after which the portion of the securing wires extending beyond the member .L may be clipped off and the wheel removed from the machine. It will be observed that thelportions of the wires which overlap each other are between the clamps N and free to be moved during the operation of the fitting and brazing, Which may be performed at any suitable point and in any suitable way. After the wires are brazed together, the clamps N are released which permits of removing'the member L. It is, however, necessary to force the separated. ends of the rubber tire together, and this is preferably accomplished by replacing the wheel on the spindle B and raising the spindle until the tire engages the shoes R R carried. by the These shoes have a roughmembers F F. ened inner face S curved so as to fit the contour of the tire, and by turning the handwheel E the ends of the tire are forced together.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In a tire-attaching machine, the combination with means for tensioning the sccuring wires of a tire about a wheel felly, of a member removable-from said machine engaging the sides-of the felly, and adapted to protect the same during brazing, and clamping means-on said member for securing the ends of the tension wire.

2. In a machine for attaching tires to wheel felliesfthe combination with means for tensioning the securing wire of a tire about the wheel felly, of a member removable from the machine engaging the sides of said felly, and adapted to protect the same during brazin abutments on said member for holding th c ends of the rubber portion of the tire apart, and adjacent clamping means for holding the tire securing wire under tension.

3. A machine for attaching tires to wheel fellies comprising a frame, a wheel supporting spindle vertically adjustably secured to said frame, a transversely-extending rotary shaft having right and left threaded portions upon opposite sides of its center, wire clamping jaws for engagement with said oppositely threaded portions, a member removable from the machine engaging the felly, abutments on said member for holding the ends of the rubber portion of the tire apart, and clamping means carried by said member for holding the tire securing wire under tension.

4. In a tire machine, the combination with means for tensioning the securing wires of a tire about a Wheel felly, of a member for engaging the wheel felly removable with said tire and felly from said machine for the purpose of brazing the ends of said wire together, clamping means on said member for securing the ends of the tensioned Wire, and means for protecting the felly during the brazing together of the wires.

5. In a tire machine, the combination with means for tensioning the securing wires of a tire about a Wheel felly, of a member removable with said' tire and fellyf from said machine, said member being bifurcated to embrace the felly of the Wheel, separated abutments on said member extending across the periphery of said felly for engagement with the ends of the rubber portion of the tire, said member being cut away intermediate said abutments, and having downwardly extending sides for protecting the felly during brazing, and. clamping means for the tire securing wires carried by said member.

6. As a means for attaching tires to wheel fellies, a member having se arated abutments for the ends of the ru ber tire, and having ortions engaging the sides of the felly an ada ted to protect the same during brazing togeiilier of the wires, and clamping means attached to said members for holding the tire securing wires under tension.

7. As a means for attaching tires to wheel fellies, a member having separated abutments for the ends of the rubber tire, and

having portions engaging the sides of the felly and adapted to protect the same during brazing, and a pair of clamping members carried by said first-mentioned member and having bearings respectively against said se arated abutments.

n testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

HENRY L. STOUP. 

